Médecins Sans Frontières - World Refugee Day - the story of Muse Bare Shangalow, 55, from Dagahaley refugee camp, Kenya

Unique Identifier Code / URN MSF275538

Date taken / Date Recorded 06/03/2019 12:00 AM

Country Kenya

Detailed location Dagahaley Refugee Camp

Commissioning section MSF-SWITZERLAND

Photographer / videographer / producer Paul Odongo

Copyright Paul Odongo/MSF

Usage Rights (MSF) Advertising Campaign, MSF Fundraising, MSF Publications, Social Media

Formal Consent Copy available no

Project section OCG

Editor's rating ★★★★★ (C)

Maximum Size 6016px × 4016px 6.66 MB

Additional Information / Shotlist Muse Bare Shangalow, 55

Lives with cancer of the Oesophagus since September 2018, and is part of MSF’s Palliative Care program

“I had difficulty in swallowing food or water. I could not take any. Even spitting was difficult as the pain was excruciating!”. A Barrium Swallow test was done on him in September 2018 and he was diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus. He was then referred to begin palliative care services offered by MSF in Dagahaley. “I started feeling discomfort when swallowing food earlier in 2018 and it gradually got worse with time. Got to a point where whenever I ate, it would just take a few minutes before it all comes back out. It’s at that time that I went to the emergency room of MSF here in Dagahaley and was referred to IFO for a barium swallow test. I really appreciate the follow ups and medications offered by MSF, they are really helping and the pain gets worse when I run out. I wish that further investigations could be carried out to see if I can get better care.” MSF sends a team daily to check on the palliative care patients in the program. The team does among other things: dressing any wounds, changing the intravenous (IV) fluids that manage their pain and provide supplements, while also giving any advice and medication to the patients. Most of the patients under this program have chronic diseases or conditions that do not have a cure, or the treatments they need are not available in the camps or sometimes may be too costly to treat outside the camp. The MSF staff therefore just help ease their pain. Bare came into the camp in 1992 and settled in Dagahaley. “All my six children were born in this camp, but one died in the year 1995. One of them is married and has children.” “We heard rumours that there are plans to close the camp. We feel so hopeless because we have this patient who needs close care and we don’t know how possible that will be if we are forced back to Somalia,’ says his wife.